|
 SUNNY SIDE UP
Paolo Nutini Warner 4.5 stars This immediately put a smile on my face. It’s the second offering from Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, after his 2006 debut These Streets. The fact that he’s only 22 blows me away – his superb, gravelly voice and songwriting maturity wildly defy his tender years. Nutini is an old soul in a dashing young body – he has the music in him, that’s for sure. Sunny Side Up is absolutely blissful, fusing country, soul, folk and the horny vigour of ragtime swing. Opener ‘10/10’, with its eccentric rocksteady nuances, sets the tone for the rest of album, which sees Nutini channel luminaries like Otis Redding, Canned Heat and Cab Calloway. He doesn’t put one foot wrong, and listening to this is just so easy.
 CRAVE VOLUME 2
Various Artists Universal 3 stars Mixed by DJ Havana Brown, this promises to be three discs of “the hottest hip hop and R&B”. And if by “hottest” they mean “most popular”, I suppose they deliver. Lady GaGa’s ‘Just Dance’, Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ and Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ opens disc one, and the rest plays pretty much like a gay club DJ’s set list. We have Leona Lewis’s ‘Bleeding Love’, Ne-Yo’s ‘Closer’ and The Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Stickwitu’ (clearly they’ve been developing their own spin-off English-language dialect) on disc two; and Johnny Gill’s ‘Rub You The Right Way’ and P Diddy’s ‘Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down’ on disc three. And just in case you think this isn’t gay enough, they also chuck in ‘I’m Every Woman’ from Whitney. All that’s missing is ‘It’s Raining Men’.
 THE END
The Black Eyed Peas Universal 2 stars Now if I had to pick one song that is most getting under my skin (and not in a good way) at the moment, it would be ‘Boom Boom Pow’ from The Black Eyed Peas’ new album, The End (here’s hoping). I’m sorry, I just can’t engage with a song that has a chorus consisting entirely of onomatopoeia. Some have called the song dramatic, but to me it’s banal. And the lyric “you’re so two thousand and late”? Snap, snap. The crimes against the English language don’t stop there, with Fergie opining on ‘Alive’, “you were my best friend and boyfriend, now it seems like you’re my worst friend” I’m sure that one cut deep. And don’t even get me started on her attempt at a Jamaican accent on ‘Electric City’. To me, there’s nothing innovative or exciting here. But if you like pedestrian techno/R&B, go for your life.
 ZE REMIXES
Van She Universal 2.5 stars This two-disc release from Modular darlings Van She, one of the latest in a string of 80s-esque electro pop outfits like The Presets and Cut Copy, comprises their debut album V and an eight-track remix disc. As we know, V is a really solid offering, with some awesome singles like ‘Kelly’, ‘Strangers’ and ‘Virgin Suicide’. The closest comparison is Cut Copy, even though they’re not quite at that level yet. Some of the synthy tunes are a bit samey, it has to be said, but that’s by-the-by. The remix disc doesn’t really float my boat – it just seems a bit unnecessary. It doesn’t add anything to the tracks in my opinion. One for the die-hards. But I look forward to their next release.
 |
Arts & Entertainment 
Subscribe to this comment's feed